Tough stretch of games will test UT's newfound glow

Texas' David Ash feels he's more popular than ever after throwing for 326 yards and four touchdowns against Mississippi, but will that affection be fleeting?

AUSTIN - On his weekend off, Texas quarterback David Ash went home, where things made sense. He hunted doves, attended church services, watched his brother get baptized. In Belton, he was who he'd always been.

In the realm of college football, though, he has discovered that his identity - and popularity - can be significantly less certain.

"Before last week, I don't think there was anybody who liked me," said Ash, who threw for a career-high 326 yards and four touchdowns at Mississippi on Sept. 15. "Now, everybody likes me."

For now, the rest of the 12th-ranked Longhorns are basking in that same adulation. But as they head into what looks to be the toughest stretch of their season, beginning with Saturday's trip to Oklahoma State, they do so with the knowledge that good vibes can be fleeting.

"I reminded them that they haven't done anything the last six teams haven't done," Brown said. "One team took it to a national championship (game), one team took it to being one of the three best teams in the country, and one team took it to 5-7."

Moving up in class

The destination of this year's team remains a mystery but could start to reveal itself in Stillwater, Okla. The Cowboys (2-1) have beaten UT in the teams' last two meetings and will be the stiffest competition the Longhorns have faced this year.

Oklahoma State leads the nation in total offense at 686 yards per game. And despite some defensive shortcomings, the Cowboys should have a talent advantage over the Mississippi unit Texas torched for 66 points.

The Longhorns' confidence is soaring after their throttling of the Rebels. But that hasn't been a great omen for UT lately.

Among the Longhorns' most uplifting recent victories were emotional road breakthroughs at Texas Tech and Nebraska in 2010 and last year's comeback at Texas A&M. All were followed by UT losses.

"A big question this week is: How will we handle success?" Brown said.

The Horns hope they have a better answer this time. And even though they insist they're not looking past the Cowboys, they said they realize the OSU game is just the start of a brutal gauntlet.

Ranked teams on tap

Next week, UT plays at home against No. 9 West Virginia. The week after that, the Longhorns face No. 16 Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry game in Dallas.

When that stretch is over, Ash and his teammates will have a better idea if all the love they're getting now is genuine or not. Until then, safety Kenny Vaccaro said, it's best just to ignore the hype.

"Really, don't believe anything right now," Vaccaro said. "If we're going to show anything, we're going to show it the next three weeks."